Written by Ayushi Kumari
Remarkable for its dazzling cast and their strong performances, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women refreshes the energy of Louisa May Alcott’s literary classic. From the very beginning, the movie establishes the prejudice that Jo March is up against as a woman, the Victorian societal prejudice that stressed upon girls the feminine virtues of modesty, gracefulness, delicacy, chastity, purity, and domesticity. Gerwig’s adaptation of the novel gives a glimpse into how life-affirming and soul-stirring cinema can get. She allows the four sisters, Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth to colour their own world with beautiful brushstrokes as compared to their literary precedents. The most striking feature of the film is its ending. Alcott followed the Victorian convention and married her heroine off and so does Gerwig. However, the last scenes of the film do not show Jo running to kiss Bhaer soaked in rain but embracing the satisfaction of her book being born, the pages being sewn together and the cover being stamped. Greta focuses on the position and aspirations of women in the society and in doing so she rolls adaptation and dissertation into one.
Part of brilliance of Gerwig’s interpretation is that she fuses together Alcott’s Jo and Alcott herself. Her narrative is experimental and fresh in the sense that it is not so much the story of Little Women itself but Alcott’s writing of the novel. Gerwig’s Jo is witty and more insistent on fulfilling her aspirations rather than fitting into the society’s conventions which condition women to believe that marriage is the only way to become financially independent. Speaking of marriage, Amy’s speech to Laurie on marriage is extremely pivotal, not only because it reveals her character but also because it drops some harsh truth bombs. Amy is quite aware of the fact that she is not good enough a painter to lead a comfortable life and support her family. She has the maturity of a woman who is aware of her standing and sternly explains how marriage is an “economic proposition” for a woman. This powerful speech is not in the book and is exemplary of Gerwig’s creativity. So, the scorned Amy is more of an unapologetic realist. Through Meg and Beth, the director and the author stress on the importance of women making their own choices, even if it is the choice of marrying a man who is not rich or the choice of domestic life. It must always be their choice and not their need.
During the 19th century when the cult of femininity was defined by strict Victorian ideals like piety, beauty, and domesticity, Alcott planted the seeds of pro feminist consciousness in the four sisters, especially Jo. Gerwig employs meaningful subversions and updates the new feminine model of Alcott with which the movie’s female audience can easily identify. When Jo (Saoirse Ronan) delivers the heart-wrenching and seminal speech in the attic while talking to her mother, her tough facade crumbles and she is left searching meaning in a society that merely considers women as objects of beauty and love, while also reckoning with the fact that she wants to find a partner. “Women have minds and souls as well as just hearts, and they’ve got ambition and talent as well as just beauty. And I’m sick of people saying that love is all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it! But- I’m so lonely.” The speech was picked up from the book but Gerwig very artfully added “I’m so lonely” at the end. This makes her adaptation refreshingly different from the others.
In telling the story of the birth of an artist, Gerwig pulls taut two conflicting desires and explores that tension in the light of awakening of Jo’s literary vocation: making a satisfying living from one’s art and relying on that art as a mode of personal expression. After experiencing the devastating loss of her sister at the hands of an earlier disease, Jo starts writing her biggest project, a semi-autobiographical novel inspired in part by her and her sisters’ childhood. The novel is her tribute to Beth. However, she does not marry off her heroine until her publisher asks her to do so for commercial reasons because a story cannot sell if it has a spinster heroine at the ending. Thus, “marriage has always been an economic proposition, even in fiction!” Jo boldly retains the copyright of her book and negotiates a substantial amount of money from the profits saying “If I’m going to sell my heroine into marriage for money, I might as well get some of it.”
Another important aspect of the novel that hasn’t made into most of the adaptations is Jo confiding her anger in Marmee who tells Jo “I’m angry nearly every day of my life.” Gerwig’s adaptation is the second to include this incredible line. Laura Dern’s Marmee is the one who responds quite archly to the idiocies offered by her husband. Marmee’s maternal anger is like a miracle of insight: comes out of nowhere but seeps everywhere. It is central but unknowable, cherished but easy to ignore. Marmee’s maternal anger seems a central part of the story- expressed and suppressed and her story about creativity, love, home, and world-making might be another significant feminist act on Alcott’s part apart from Jo’s artistic awakening.
Gerwig’s Little Women is not a bland retelling of a tale but something which brings a contemporary punch to the Victorian narrative without compromising on the historical charm of the novel. The battles and triumphs of the March sisters seem mundane but they are important and resonate with the modern audience. Unlike the other adaptations, which focus primarily on Jo March, Gerwig focuses on the feminist undertones of the original tale through Meg’s sacrifices of raising a family, Amy’s ambition to leave a mark, Beth’s unwavering kindness in the face of personal struggles and Jo’s demand to be heard as a writer in a profession dominated by men. The March sisters subvert the idea of female protagonist balancing her aspirations and personal life with the societal burden of being a woman. They make irrational decisions, fight, make mistakes and constantly question who they are and what they stand for. Thanks to the artistic direction which conveys a female experience that is genuine and honest.
Little Women is a testament as to why stories about women need to be told by women and Greta Gerwig makes it more apparent through her relevant retelling of the classic tale and making it the most impactful adaptation so far.
